Feminist Critiques & Interpretations of the Bible.

Feminist readers of the Bible differ in many areas when it comes to their conclusions as well as methodologies (1). However, what they generally agree on is, explains Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, the W. A. Eisenberger Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis at Princeton Theological Seminar, “the beginning point, shared with all feminists studying the Bible, is appropriately a stance of radical suspicion” (2). Robin Parry, in her informative piece Feminist Hermeneutics and Evangelical Concerns, has identified several reasons for this suspicion (3).

This, she explains, is because women’s experiences have been excluded from the official interpretations of the Bible, and often from the Bible itself making the Bible a powerful tool in the oppression of women. Letty Russell, a feminist Reformed theologian, writes that “it has become abundantly clear that the scriptures need liberation, not only from existing interpretations but also from the patriarchal bias of the texts themselves” (4). Another feminist theologian, Elisabeth Fiorenza, thinks that the Bible is “authored by men, written in androcentric language, [and] reflective of male experience” (5). This, Rosemary Ruether alleges, is a confrontation to biblical authority, “The Bible was shaped by males in a patriarchal culture, so many of its revelatory experiences were interpreted by men from a patriarchal perspective. The ongoing interpretation of these revelatory experiences and their canonisation further this patriarchal bias by eliminating traces of female experience or interpreting them in an androcentric way. The Bible, in turn, becomes an authoritative source for the justification of patriarchy in Jewish and Christian society” (6).

Thus, Christian and Jewish feminists have grappled with, and thought long and hard about, this charge. One cannot simply dismiss feminist critiques of biblical authority and over time we will be closely examining some of them. Nevertheless, commentator and Sister Carolyn Osiek has identified five ways in which feminist scholars have viewed the Bible (7) (8):

-The Loyalist – “This is the view the Bible cannot be rejected under any circumstances including because of its apparent undermining of women. Two possibilities open up for the loyalist: one can reinterpret ‘oppressive’ texts in non-oppressive ways, seeing the problem not with the text but with its readers, or one could opt for the complementarian position which, strictly speaking, is not a feminist position.”

-The Revisionist – “The Bible and the Christian tradition have been stamped by the patriarchal culture in which they arose but they are not essentially patriarchal and can be reformed. The ‘submerged female voices’ of women hidden behind text and tradition can be recovered from scraps of linguistic, rhetorical and narrative evidence. The intention is to reconstruct, as far as possible, the lives of ordinary Israelite women at different periods of the nation’s history. One may also try to bring to the surface often ignored texts which present women in a more positive light among other methods.”

-The Sublimationist – “The ‘feminine principle’ of life-giving and nurturing are glorified and the tradition is scoured for feminine symbols of God and the church.”

-The Liberationist – “To consider the Bible generally looking for theological perspectives which can be used to critique patriarchy (e.g. new creation, shalom, prophetic critique of oppression, koinonia). The central message of the Bible is seen to be that of human liberation motivated by eschatological hope. Letty Russell finds a biblical basis and motivation for her liberationist message ‘in God’s intention for the mending of all creation’28 and Ruether seeks strands of cultural critique from Israel’s prophets with which to attack patriarchy. Both, however, take the starting point of a feminist ideology which comes from beyond the text and is brought to it with the hope of correlating the feminist critical principle with one internal to scripture.”

It is also true that a combination of two or more of these views can be held at the same time minus the exception of The Rejectionists approach being compatible with any of the others.

Truly enjoyed reading this post. Very informative and if I were to meet this feminist Katharine who states that events with women are excluded from the Bible I would say she definitely has not read the Bible herself. Since there are many events recording women in the Bible, two books are even titled by womens names, Esther, and Ruth. The in Judges we have a woman judge who was the wife of a Levite named Deborah. Anna the prophetess and the most important woman, Mary mother of Jesus. The list goes on. I am blessed to be a woman and I am tired of the women who call themselves feminists when there is nothing feminine about them. I am glad you wrote this post and shared the resources.

James Bishop

James is from South Africa. He is a graduate in Creative Brand Communication and Marketing (CBC) & Theology (majoring in psychology). James obtained his BTh with cum laude, and is currently pursuing his postgraduate in Religious Studies.